


As You Swam Near

by perilousgard



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 06:06:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1458733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perilousgard/pseuds/perilousgard
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra swims a few laps in the pool late at night, and Asami interrupts her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As You Swam Near

**Author's Note:**

> Title comes from the song Swimming Pool by Freezepop. This is also an old writing (from 2012).

When Korra didn’t have anything else to do, what she liked most was swimming. Being part of the swim team meant that she had all-hours access to the pool, even when a lifeguard wasn’t on duty. Therefore, she often found herself swimming laps well after dark, when everything was silent and still except for the water. It was so easy to lose track of time and stay there for hours, until she realized it was the middle of the night and she had class the next morning. Most people who knew her wouldn’t think she was the type who liked the quiet, but the silence of the water was something else entirely.

 

Korra had always been able to swim like a fish. She’d been swimming since she was a little kid up in Alaska, her parents making the snowy drive twice a week to the YMCA that was in the next town over. They encouraged all of her athletic interests, but it was always swimming that she liked best. Sometimes she thought maybe she’d do it professionally – get a real trainer, work towards the Olympics or something – but she didn’t know. Her parents wanted her to focus on college first.

 

The water rippled around her as she went back and forth in the pool, roughly the temperature of bathwater. It was pleasant in comparison to the freezing air outside, even though Korra was used to the cold. She had just completed her twenty-fifth lap when she realized someone else was in the room with her.

 

“Hey,” said Asami, as Korra swam up to the side of the pool and put her arms up on the edge. “Do you know how late it is?”

  
Korra shrugged. “Not really. I’m guessing it’s late?”  
  
“Past midnight.” Asami showed her the face of her watch, which reflected the light from the water.   
  
“I thought you’d be asleep by now.” Her roommate usually went to bed fairly early, at least for a college student. She liked to spend the majority of her evenings studying or reading, while Korra procrastinated by downloading music or visiting Bolin and Mako down the hall. She wasn’t particularly studious - but she was managing. She’d even gotten Asami to help her with French, which she was horrendously bad at speaking.  
  
The older girl shrugged her shoulders. “I couldn’t sleep. Aren’t you tired of swimming?”  
  
Korra grinned. “I’m never tired of swimming. It’s relaxing.”  
  
Asami nodded, squatting down to her level and resting her chin on her knees. “I’m surprised you’re allowed in here this late.”  
  
“Well, they had to guess I’d take advantage when they gave me the keys to the pool, right?”  
  
Her roommate laughed. “You would.”  
  
Korra lifted herself up, sitting on the edge of the pool next to Asami, and grabbed her towel. “So you said you couldn’t sleep. Something bothering you?”  
  
She shifted a little uncomfortably. “Just some, uh, dreams.” Her cheeks turned faintly pink and she looked away.  
  
Korra blinked at her. “What kind of dreams?”  
  
“Oh, it’s nothing.” Asami waved her hand, brushing off the conversation. “But they reminded me, there’s something I want to ask you.”  
  
Korra couldn’t see how Asami’s dreams could have made her think of a question she wanted to ask, unless Korra herself had been in Asami’s dreams. For some reason, the idea of it made her face feel hot, and she hastily wiped at it with her towel to hide it. “Yeah? What did you want to ask?”  
  
“Winter break’s coming up soon, and I was wondering if you wanted to come stay at my house for a few days before you went back to Alaska.” Korra looked up, and met Asami’s bright green eyes. “I mean, I know you’ve probably booked your flight already, but I thought, on the off-chance you hadn’t…You said you wanted to test drive some of my dad’s cars…”  
  
“I’d love to!” Korra said without thinking.  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yeah” Thinking over it more, she became more enthusiastic. “I don’t think my parents would mind if I was a few days late getting home. And you can show me around that big city you come from.”  
  
Asami grinned. “And I can teach you how to drive a stick shift.”  
  
Korra’s expression mirrored hers. “I dunno. I’m not sure how much your dad would like me if I wrecked one of his cars.”  
  
“You won’t wreck it. I’m an excellent teacher.”  
  
“If you say so.” Korra gazed at her a moment, briefly mesmerized by the way the water made her skin look even paler, almost ethereal, and then abruptly turned away and dove back into the pool.  
  
“Hey!” Asami laughed, as she was splashed. “Didn’t I just tell you what time it was?”  
  
“And you just told me you couldn’t sleep,” Korra called back. “You should come in! It feels like bathwater in here. It’ll make you relax.”  
  
“I don’t have a swimsuit!”  
  
“Why does that matter? It’s just me and you!”  
  
Asami rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling. “Fine. But don’t look while I change, okay?”  
  
“Why? Your body isn’t that special.” Asami shot her a look, starting to make a retort, but Korra just grinned and dove under the water, giving her time to strip off her various layers of clothing as she swam across the pool without stopping for breath.   
  
She resurfaced just in time to see her roommate slide into the pool. The water at that end only came up to her ribs, just under her breasts. She glanced at Korra once, then ducked down so that the water came up to her neck. “It is pretty warm,” she confessed, bobbing a little closer.  
  
“Yup.” Korra swam over to her, her strokes long and smooth. Asami followed her movements with her eyes. “So, you gonna tell me about that dream you had?”  
  
“I told you, it was nothing.” The other girl seemed flustered again. “And can you stop circling me like a shark?”  
  
“Sorry.” Korra became still, hovering close. Under the water, the lights in the pool highlighted Asami’s long, slim legs, and the dark purple polish on her toes. “I was just curious. You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”  
  
“Well, it’s just - hard to explain. It confused me.”  
  
“Confusing how?” Korra’s dreams were always confusing, but somehow she always found a way to illustrate to Asami even the most bizarre ones, like the time Mako had been a mermaid and saved her from a sinking ship.   
  
Asami let out a breath. “Like…confusing because you were there.”  
  
Korra’s eyebrow rose. “I made your dream confusing?”  
  
“Yeah, because in the dream you were —”  
  
“I was…what?”  
  
Her roommate hesitated, then shook her head. “Nothing. Forget it. I’m really tired, and I think all this studying’s gone to my head. Can we go back to the room?”  
  
“Sure.” Giving her an odd look, Korra swam one more lap while Asami got out, and found a spare towel to dry off. Then Korra followed her, shaking her wet hair out of her face and squeezing water out of her ponytail. Asami had already bent to get her towel as she approached her swim bag.   
  
“Thanks,” she said, reaching out to grab it. But Asami didn’t let go.  
  
Korra looked up and met her eyes again. She only had time to take a breath in preparation to ask what was wrong before Asami darted forward and closed the distance between their lips.  
  
The kiss was wet and tasted vaguely of chlorine, but there were still hints of Asami’s chapstick beneath that, and the taste was heady to Korra. Shaking away the shock that her roommate was kissing her, she reacted out of instinct, and brought her hand up to cradle her friend’s face. Their mouths moved, finding a rhythm they both liked, and for the a moment there was nothing but pure silence and the sound their lips made when they pulled apart and pressed back together.   
  
Korra pulled away first, but not because she wanted to.  
  
“That was, um…”  
  
“Better than the dream,” Asami finished, and then - surprisingly - grinned hugely at the look that crossed Korra’s face at her words. “But maybe next time I’ll wait until you’re not saturated with pool water.”  
  
Korra grinned back, then paused. “Wait - next time?”  
  
Asami simply gave the slightest of winks and slipped her hand into hers.

 

 


End file.
